Maciej Swiderski [https://community.jboss.org/people/swiderski.maciej] modified the document: "Simulation in jBPM" To view the document, visit: https://community.jboss.org/docs/DOC-19261 -------------------------------------------------------------- This article describes main components of the jbpm simulation module that was introduced http://mswiderski.blogspot.com/2012/08/simulation-in-jbpm-draft.html on this blog. It is recommended to read it first to be able to follow this article which provides technical insight into the module while the blog talks mainly about simulation in general with examples and references to jbpm simulation module as a whole. +*First of all - please keep in mind that this is an experimental module and subject to change, none of the following components are considered stable and can (and probably will) change so I would like to encourage you to leave your feedback and requirements.*+ As mentioned in the blog, simulation module consist of two components: * path finder * simulation engine extension *Path finder* Path finder is responsible for determining alternative paths in a given process. Following diagram illustrates main interfaces/classes of that component: https://community.jboss.org/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/102-19261-1-191... https://community.jboss.org/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/102-19261-1... As the diagram is rather simple and explains it self some clarification is required about the interfaces and classes that realize them. PathContext - representation of an alternative path of the process, that holds both path elements such as nodes and sequence flows and some internal state PathFinder - is the main interface that should be provided to build up a list of PathContext instances PathFormatConverter - provides a convenient hook into the path finder to instruct it what should be the format returned from the finder if default (PathContext) is not enough PathFinderFactory - just a factory to create instances of PathFinder BPMN2PathFinderImpl - default implementation that is capable of determining paths of a BPMN2 process and supports following: * determining paths of the entire process * determining paths of a embedded sub process JSONPathFormatConverter - converts result of the find path mechanism into JSON data model that is consumed but jBPM web designer SimulationFilterPathFormatConverter - converts result of the find path mechanism that are required as input for simulation *Simulation engine extension* simulation engine extension allows to employ jBPM engine to execute processes in simulation mode, meaning it does not run the process directly (like invoking services, triggering events, relying on process variables) but instead it relies on input data to calculate how the execution could look like. To run the simulation based on this component drools simulator is utilized with its fluent api. Simulation engine extension provides commands that are added to the simulator on each step of execution. Let's have a quick look at the drools simulator fluent api:         SimulationFluent f = new DefaultSimulationFluent();         // @formatter:off         f.newKnowledgeBuilder()         .add( ResourceFactory.newClassPathResource("BPMN2-ExclusiveSplit.bpmn2"), ResourceType.BPMN2 )           .end(World.ROOT, KnowledgeBuilder.class.getName() )         .newKnowledgeBase()           .addKnowledgePackages()           .end(World.ROOT, KnowledgeBase.class.getName() )         .newPath("path1")             .newStep( 0 )                 .newStatefulKnowledgeSession()                     .end(World.ROOT, StatefulKnowledgeSession.class.getName())         .runSimulation();         // @formatter:on So what it does? It's sort of recording what it should do (and when) after simulation is triggered with runSimulation method. So in this example following will happen: * create knowledge builder and add a process into it * create knowledge base with the builder * create a path with unique identifier * create a step at the time distance 0 meaning will be executed directly (in case delays are executed it will advance clock with the specified amount of time) * create stateful knowledge session as part of the step * and finally run the simulation And this is pure drools simulator, let's take a look at the simulation engine extension component and what it consists of and finally how it can e used with drools simulator. https://community.jboss.org/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/19168/simulatio... https://community.jboss.org/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/19168/simul... As you can see there are quite few classes involved so let me explain each of their responsibility SimulationDataProvider  - this one is responsible for providing information (like simulation properties) for a given node BPMN2SimulationDataProvider - fetches simulation properties directly from BPMN2 file that are stored as extension elements of each node or sequence flow as meta data JBPMBAMSimulationDataprovider - fetches information about given node from jBPM Business Activity Monitoring module and attempts to convert them to simulation properties (still under development meaning not yet fully functional) TimeGenerator - provides simple way to manipulate time based properties to add some sort of randomness while running simulation, for instance when duration of an activity is given as 3 (+-1) minutes then time generator will be returning values for following range 2 - 4 minutes ActivitySimulator - this is the main component of the simulation engine extension as it will be triggered for every node in the process and based on it type various operations will be invoked StartEventSimulator - records the start time EndEventSimulator - records end time and calculates simulation instance duration (execution time) StateBasedActivitySimulator - calculates duration (execution time) for a given activity HumanTaskActivitySimulator - calculates human task related data like wait time if users assigned to handle given task are fully booked, resource utilization, etc SimulationEvent - each ActivitySimulator produces event that contain all relevant information for a particular node, that means that each simulator will have a dedicated SimulationEvent SimulationRepository - place holder for all SimulationEvents and depending on the implementation event processor InMemorySimulationRepository - simple implementation that collects all the events in a list for further processing but does not do anything with the events WorkingMemorySimulationRepository - implementation that employs WorkingMemory (StatefulSession) as container for events and make use of rules and cep for processing like event aggregation etc This briefly describes main items of the simulation engine extension but you could notice there is nothing that can actually run the simulation. For that purpose there is a dedicated command SimulateProcessPathCommand that will be used together with drools simulator to run the simulation. This command will make sure that all prerequisites for running the simulation are met and will start the process in the engine. Currently the weakest part is the result of the simulation, in other words what to do with all the events that were produced during simulation. Personally I think that using rules and CEP can give a lot of power and flexibility to produce various reports and statistics based on the events but I would appreciate your comments in this (and not only this) area. More will come so stay tuned! -------------------------------------------------------------- Comment by going to Community [https://community.jboss.org/docs/DOC-19261] Create a new document in jBPM at Community [https://community.jboss.org/choose-container!input.jspa?contentType=102&a...]